


Secret Santa isn't So Secret After All

by NightWinds



Series: 25 Days of Fic-mas 2016 [2]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: 25 Days of Fic-mas, Christmas, Day 2 of 25, Fluffy, Flustered!Jared is my favorite Jared, M/M, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-03
Updated: 2016-12-03
Packaged: 2018-09-06 04:23:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8734756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightWinds/pseuds/NightWinds
Summary: Jared worked at Ink and Quill Games, a local board game store, alongside Jensen who may or may not even know Jared existed. Jared's major crush on Jensen was harmless until he got chosen as Jensen's Secret Santa.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Day 2 of 25 whoop! I find this one really cute. I hope you guys enjoy!!!  
> Prompt: Character A’s best friends rigs the Secret Santa, because they know Character A has a crush on Character B

Jared didn’t have anyone special in his life and that was the truth. No matter how much he wanted that to change, it never would happen. 

Jensen Ackles was everyone’s fantasy at Ink and Quill Games, the local board game store, and Jared’s one of them that moon over him. Jared can't help it, Jensen’s so nice to all the employees and is even nicer to every costumer he assists. Though he probably doesn’t even know Jared’s name, but Jared finds that he doesn’t care that much, just being able to be in the same room with the guy is a blessing. Jared thinks that if he and Jensen were friends, he most likely wouldn’t last a day without having a heart attack, that guy was almost too much for Jared to be able to handle.

Of course, nothing was stopping him from going over to where Jensen was bent over trying to straighten out the puzzles and to talk to him. But Jared knows better than to talk to him. He doesn’t need to see the light freckles scattered over his face or the brightest and more sincere smile Jared has ever seen up close. Jared would melt to never be seen again.

As Jared was ogling at Jensen’s back, his best friend, Vanessa Berhow, came up behind the zoned-out man and simply placed a hand on his shoulder. Jared, who was startled into the next week, tore his eyes off the beautiful man and whipped his head back to face her.

Vanessa was Jared’s only friend and the only person in the whole store who wasn’t staring longingly at Jensen every time he was in the vicinity. Jared liked that she was different, just like him. 

Vanessa just smiled at Jared and waited for his beating heart to slow down back to normal again. Jared took a deep breath and smiled back down at her.

“Guess what!” she exclaimed.

“What?”

“You know the Secret Santa thing right? Yeah well, the big boss man assigned me the duty of choosing who everybody’s Secret Santa is.”

“That’s cool!” Jared was happy for her but didn’t understand what that look in her eyes meant.

“Yeah, it’s cool because I get to decide who Jensen’s Secret Santa is.”

“Yeah, and?” Jared was still confused. _Why is she telling me this?_

Vanessa sighed and shook her head with a small frown. “You don’t get it do you? Okay, never mind. Just at least think of me when you get your Secret Santa assignment,” Vanessa said and walked off to help a mother and her child.

Jared shrugged and tried his best to avoid being in the same isle as Jensen for the rest of the day.

/\/\/\

His plan only lasted up until his lunch break when he found Jensen curled up in a chair reading a thick book with a half-eaten burger sitting on the coffee table in front of him. Jensen looked up when he saw Jared walk in and Jared forgot how to move. 

“Hey, it’s Jared, right?” Jensen gave Jared a thousand-watt smile and Jared’s knees felt weak.

“Yeah.” Jared was sure he was blushing like crazy.

Jensen nodded slightly then stood up and stretched. Jared looked down at his feet. When he let himself look back up, he saw that Jensen had thrown away his trash, gathered all of his stuff, the book sliding into a massager bag that was then stored in one of the cubbies, and was walking toward Jared.

“See you later, Jay,” Jensen brushed his hand over Jared’s shoulder as he left Jared standing there partially in the doorway.

Jared’s mind was too much of a mess to move an inch. _Jay? Did he just give me a nickname? He actually knows my name and he decided to give me a nickname. Am I dead? Am I freaking out over nothing? Does he give everyone a nickname? But wow I can't believe it, I feel like a fangirl._

Somehow, Jared was able to stumble over to the chair Jensen was previously occupying and lower himself into it. He wasn’t able to eat for a full ten minutes until his stomach reminded him he hadn’t eaten since the night before.

/\/\/\

As Jared’s shift ended, the manager stopped him before he could leave. “Mr. Larring, is something wrong?”

The manager, Ryan Larring, shook his head and Jared felt relieved. “It’s about your secret Santa assignment. You must buy a gift for Jensen this year. Make sure it is ready to be handed in to me by December twenty-first, the next time we work together, so it can be given to him at the Christmas party.”

Everything suddenly made sense.

Jared recalled how weird Vanessa was this morning and how she mentioned Jensen specifically. This was her doing. Jared was happy and scared at the same time.

_What does Jensen even like?_

Jared knew there was only one option to make Jensen happy and he would rather sell his soul than follow through with what he must do.

/\/\/\

The next time Jared worked with Jensen was two weeks later on December sixteenth, five days until the deadline.

Jared found him in the strategizing games aisle. “Hey Jensen!” Jared rose his hand in a greeting. 

“Jay! What’s up?” Jensen looked stunning in the white company shirt and it really wasn’t fair, but then again, nothing about him was.

“I was wondering if you wanted to hangout after our shifts are over?” Jared resisted the urge to wring his hands as an act of nervousness.

Jensen thought for a moment and it was the longest moment of Jared’s life. “Yeah okay, what do you want to do?”

 _What? I didn’t think that would work._ “Maybe like go out to eat or something. If you want to.”

“Sounds great!” Jensen’s voice rose in excitement and Jared smiled.

 _Now what?_ Jared pointed over his shoulder and gestured. “I'm going to go work. Because I'm at my job, don’t feel like I want to get away from you, which isn’t the case. I’d be fine to talk more, but I shouldn’t. Oh! I think that woman needs my assistance, I must go,” Jared stammered.

Jared could hear Jensen laugh as Jared turned to nearly run away and it was the best laugh he had ever heard.

Jared literally ran into Vanessa during his escape. “Aw Jared, what was that about? What did Jensen do to get you so flustered?”

“This isn’t about Jensen! Not everything is about him,” Jared lied as best as he could.

“What’d he do?” Vanessa smirked.

“I asked him to hangout after our shifts and he said yes then I heard him laugh for the first time and it was cute, help me,” Jared pleaded.

“Like a date? Or just a ‘hangout’?” Vanessa asked with finger quotes.

“How am I supposed to know? The only reason I asked him out was because I need to know what he likes.”

“Well, what did you suggest you guys should do?” she winked.

“I asked him to dinner. Why, is that too forward? Does he think it’s a date? Oh God, I need help.”

Vanessa squealed and an older man walking by looked at them weirdly, but neither of them noticed for different reasons. Vanessa had her eyes closed and her fists to the air as Jared had his head in his hands.

“I’m going to die tonight, please I need guidance.”

“For starters, you could’ve asked me what he likes, he and I actually talk sometimes.”

Jared’s head shot up. “You mean I didn’t have to ask him out like that?”

“Oh Honey, you would’ve eventually, you and I both know that. On the bright side, you now know that Jensen likes you, even if it’s just as a friend, because otherwise he wouldn’t have accepted.”

“Tell me about him,” Jared begged.

“Okay, how about that he’s walking over here right now,” Vanessa flicked her eyes to where Jensen was indeed walking toward them.

“Vanessa! I didn’t know you were working today,” Jensen said. He stopped to the right of Jared and the poor giant noticed Jensen was standing only an inch or two away from him. 

Vanessa gave Jared a quick wink and shifted her attention to Jensen. “Toby’s sick so I'm filling in for him,” she shrugged. “I heard Jared was working and I couldn’t resist.”

The change of subject made Jensen look over to Jared who had a hand on the back of his neck, another nervous gesture. “Hey Jared, I'm excited for tonight. I haven’t been on a real date for months,” Jensen admitted.

Jared knew Vanessa heard everything that Jensen just said and it made Jared even more nervous. “Me neither.” That was only a half-truth. Jared knew that’s it been over two years since his last breakup, but like hell Jared’s going to tell him that.

“I think I see someone calling to me, I’ll leave you two boys alone,” Vanessa singsonged.

She was gone before Jared could blink.

“So… where do you want to go tonight? Any preferences?”

“You decide! I bet I’ll love wherever you choose to go!” Jensen smiled again and Jared didn’t know how he could be so happy all the time.

“Hey Jensen, do you now where we keep Clue?” a co-worker, Brendon, called to Jensen, interrupting their conversation. Jared silently thanked Brendon because he didn’t know how he was supposed to respond to Jensen.

Jensen’s smile faltered for a second. “Oh okay, well I have to go. I can’t wait for tonight!” Jensen called over his shoulder, already running to go help Brendon on his first week at the job.

“Me too,” Jared whispered to himself, knowing that Jensen wasn’t within range to hear him anymore.

/\/\/\

Jensen liked music, older bands especially.

Jared had casually asked him what his favorite band was and what albums he did and didn’t have. Jared didn’t think that Jensen caught on as to why he was asking such questions.

Jared learned that he only had a single album from Aerosmith, so Jared knew what he was going to get him.

The following day, Jared didn’t have to work, so he set out and got Jensen two Aerosmith albums.

Now, Jared was heading to work. He had just stopped at the coffee shop across the street from his apartment and got himself a peppermint mocha, which was one of his guilty Christmas pleasures.

He stepped one foot into Ink and Quill Games when he saw Jensen already walking toward him. With coffee-warmed hands, he met Jensen halfway.

“What’s that?” Jensen asked with s slight tilt of his head.

“A Peppermint mocha,” Jared replied.

“I‘ve never had that before, how is it?”

“Do you want to try it?” Jared internally slapped himself in the face. Of course Jensen wasn’t going to want to drink something that Jared had already put his mouth on.

“Sure, thanks!” Jensen reached out and pulled the coffee from Jared’s hands. Jensen’s hands were cold compared to Jared’s warm ones and he hoped that holding the coffee for even a minute would help warm them up.

Jensen took a sip and scrunched his nose as he swallowed. “That’s really hot!” Jensen whined. “Extremely tasty, but I think I burnt my tongue.” Jensen stuck out his tongue and no baby animal could even come close to compare with how cute Jared thought he was.

Jared gave Jensen a fond smile when he went cross-eyed trying to see if his tongue was burnt.

Jensen laughed and gave Jared his coffee back. “We should go out again soon, last night was fun!” Jensen gave Jared a thumbs up and started to back away when Gracie, the girl at the register, called him over to price check a game.

Everyone really relied on Jensen for a lot of work-related things and Jared only noticed it because every time he tried to talk to the guy, Jensen was pulled away. It wasn’t fair, but Jared tried not to be upset about such a little thing.

He should be thinking about the fact that the hottest person to ever walk the Earth is into him. Now that’s something special.

/\/\/\

When Jared arrived at the Ink and Quill Games Christmas party, which was really just the building two blocks away that they rented for the night, Jared saw all his co-workers mingling together.

Seated on the tables to the right were Toby and Miranda, two of the senior workers in the company. Across from them, two of the newcomers, Brendon and Justin, had their heads bent in conversation.

Standing by the buffet were Frank, Cindy, Ryan, Joslyn, and Martin, all wearing equally terrible Christmas sweaters. Jared looked down at his green sweater with a giant red Christmas tree in the middle and felt happy. Easily, his favorite thing about Christmas was seeing everyone’s ugly sweaters (though he thought every sweater was amazing even how terrible other people thought they looked).

Some people were scattered about the ‘dance floor’ though nobody was dancing. He recognized Suzy and Gracie but Jared couldn’t remember anyone else’s name. 

Finally, spotting them by the mountain of gifts, Jared walked over to his friends. Jensen, Vanessa and her girlfriend, Tess, all saw him approaching. Jensen gave him the biggest smile out of the three and Jared’s heart swooned. 

“Jay! There you are, I missed you. I mean, we all missed you equally as much, right guys?” It was the first time Jared saw Jensen flustered and it was nice to be on the receiving end of it for once.

Jared decided to be brave and he slung his arm around Jensen’s shoulder and tugged Jensen toward him slightly. Jensen followed without complaint.

The four of them talked until it was finally time for everyone to receive their gifts. By the rule of the company’s Secret Santa, the Santa didn’t have to give up their identity unless they wanted to, it was supposed to add mystery.

The gifts were passed out and Jared glanced around for any eyes spying on him; he found none.

Tess opened her gift first and was shocked when she got various paints and paintbrushes; painting and doing art in general was her favorite hobby. There was no signature, but she guessed they were from either Joslyn or Justin who both shared the same love for art.

Vanessa opened her gift next. It was a Marvel movie that she didn’t have and a Black Widow figurine, she squealed. Vanessa guessed it was from Ryan since she was the one to assign everyone else’s Secret Santa.

Jensen forced Jared to go next. Jared was hesitant to remove his arm from around Jensen’s shoulder, but he had to in order to open his gift. Immediately after he moved his arm, Jensen’s arm wrapped around Jared’s shoulder, making sure they were touching at all times. 

Jared opened his gift to find a book about World War II and a signed copy of _To Kill a Mockingbird_. To say the least, Jared was over the moon with joy. It was at that time when he looked up and caught the eyes of Toby who grinned and waved. Jared mirrored his actions back at him.

Lastly, it was Jensen‘s turn. They switched their arms back to how they were before and Jensen tore delicately at the red and green plaid wrapping paper.

When he finally pulled out what was inside, he dropped the paper onto the floor to be picked up later and examined two Aerosmith albums. He immediately grinned up at Jared and kissed him for a brief second. Jared froze and Jensen pulled back with a smirk.

“Thanks Jay,” Jensen said so low that Jared had to strain his ears in order to hear.

Jared was still frozen, that was their first kiss and he was about to melt with the overwhelming sense of love and warmth he felt in his heart and that also was reflected in Jensen’s eyes.

Finally, he willed his mouth to move. “You’re welcome, but how did you know it was me? Was it that obvious?”

“Nobody else here knows my favorite band,” Jensen was grinning like a madman and Jared must look the same.

They looked at each other in silence until Jared spoke up, trying to break the tension that was between them so he could breathe normally. “Thanks for saying yes when I asked you out. I didn’t think you knew I existed before the morning when I disrupted your reading.”

“Jay, ever since I first saw you I wanted you to ask me out. I tried to get your attention by showing off a little or trying to do something when I thought you were looking, but it never seemed to work.”

“Oh Jen, trust me, it worked; I was too much of a chicken to do anything about it. We’ve been pining over each other for almost half a year, I can't believe it took this long for something to actually happen.”

“Well, I'm glad we finally got together.” Jensen pecked Jared on the lips.

“Me too,” Jared whispered, knowing that Jensen would be able to hear him perfectly.

Jensen rose to his tiptoes to kiss Jared again. And again. And again.


End file.
